The Cuban actor Roberto Perdomo, one of the most beloved faces on the Island's television, revealed in an interview published on the channel Cubamastv that he has had to decline invitations to do theater because the transportation crisis in Cuba eats up almost his entire salary before he even reaches the stage.
In the program Todos Hablan, hosted by Jorge Martínez, Perdomo explained with concrete numbers the economic trap many Cubans find themselves in: «The 4,700, I calculated based on those two examples I mentioned. I mean, let's see, there are functions, four weekends, the salary is over 4,000, my salary goes to transportation, because it's 200 this way and 200 that way, weekly, three days and there are four weeks... it’s not possible, I sacrifice myself».
In recent months, Perdomo received two invitations to perform and had to decline both for the same reason. His friend Linda Soriano, from the group Impulso, invited him to star in "Antigone," and he was also called for the play "Manteca." In both cases, the inability to travel proved insurmountable.
"I couldn't, I didn't know how to get to Línea, I couldn't make the trip to go to a rehearsal, and then return—how would I get back home? It was impossible," she said regarding the first invitation.
The actor described a scene that summarizes the transportation situation on the Island: "There was a rehearsal, a day of rehearsals when I waited an hour at the corner of my house to get on one of those three-wheeled bikes that broke down on me." Informal electric tricycles have become the only means of mobility available to millions of Cubans following the collapse of state public transportation, which fell by 93% between January and September 2025.
Perdomo emphasized that his departure from the theater is not due to a lack of love for the craft: "I love theater. We are theater actors, we are theater rats," he said in the interview where he stated that "a variety of factors," including economic reasons and conditions, are behind his current absence from theater: "If I could leave my house and take a transportation—waiting not too long—until I reach my destination, I'd do it and say, invite me to do theater because I control it, I master it, I know it," he added.
The sets salaries for theater artists between 3,260 and 5,560 pesos per month, figures that are laughable compared to the real cost of informal transportation, with fuel reaching 6,000 pesos per liter on the black market.
Regarding banking, Perdomo did not hold back his criticisms: “I called it ‘bankarization’ because it hasn’t been useful at all. [...] We are even paid by bank transfer, but they say no, they don’t accept transfers.” The problems with banking particularly affect state workers, including film and television artists, who are paid digitally but cannot use that money in much of the informal trade.
When asked how he felt, Perdomo responded with a phrase that encapsulates the mood of the population: "I feel like 8 million people feel."
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